Yet another shift occurs this week when the Sun enters Scorpio. From the cool, rational territory of Libra, we descend into the depths of emotional undercurrents and primal instincts.

This also is the time of year when the veil between the worlds lifts, allowing to us to sense other dimensions of reality. Messages can come through intuition, dreams, or synchronicity.

At the same time, we’re in an intense period of revisiting the Uranus-Pluto square via transits by faster-moving inner planets. The aspect was exact from 2012 to March 2015. However, Uranus and Pluto are moving back Continue reading →

“Of course it’s OK to take those bags of money at your feet, John, and here’s a bonus. Would I lie to you?”

There’s only one major planetary aspect this week, giving us a chance to catch our breath after all the shifting that happened last week. However, it will not be business as usual.

As the week begins, we’re still in the wake of Sunday’s powerful lunar eclipse in Aries. Events related to this eclipse will continue to unfold through Wednesday. That said, when eclipses are this intense, events can occur up to three months ve. For some, life events that correspond to this eclipse already have happened.

Eclipses can bring rapid changes, often faster than we can cope with. In that regard, Mercury retrograde could be a blessing, as news of a big change could come a few weeks before the actual change. Keep in mind, though, that everything is subject to revision Continue reading →

This week is the second most significant in 2015, astrologically speaking, with several shifts and a lunar eclipse, the last of four in a row.

The first shift is the Sun’s entry into Libra, the fall or spring equinox, depending on whether you’re north or south of the equator. In Western culture, the equinox is considered the first day of fall, but I view it as mid-autumn. We’re now in the final descent into the dark days of winter.

The two key associations of Libra are personal relationships and diplomacy, which is just a large-scale relationship between nations. Many of the same principles apply: listening and responding, give and take, negotiating and compromise. The point is to achieve balance and harmony, Continue reading →

For the next two weeks, we’re in the twilight zone between eclipses, reinforced by this week’s Jupiter-Neptune opposition and Mercury retrograde.

All of this week’s major aspects occur within a 24-hour period on Thursday (Jupiter’s Day) and late Wednesday night in Western time zones. First, Jupiter opposes Neptune. Then Mercury turns retrograde in Libra, the sign of relationships and diplomacy. Several hours later, Saturn enters Sagittarius, where he will remain until December 2017. Over the next year, Saturn will square Neptune three times, pushing us out of the comfort zone of our beliefs and into the rugged terrain of truth. Continue reading →

The sun emerged Sunday afternoon after three days of driving rain and a windstorm that hurled tree branches through the air like missiles. I could hear the cracking as they split off the trunks – a terrifying sound when you live at the bottom of a slope covered in tall trees.

The sun stayed out just long enough for me to go for a short walk. It clouded over again before I was back at my computer, with showers in the forecast for the rest of the week. As I was walking, I was thinking about the approaching winter. We don’t get a lot of snow in the Seattle area, but it’s cold, wet, dark, and dismal. The memory of it begins rising Continue reading →

The Sun is now in Virgo, and after this week’s Full Moon in Pisces, we’ll be counting down to the third eclipse of 2015.

The Sun’s tour through Leo is vacation time for many in the Northern Hemisphere, with summer picnics, barbecues, and days spent at the beach. But there has been a decided lack in festiveness, in part due to the record-breaking heat. We’ve also been under a blanket of Venus retrograde in Leo. Venus in Leo normally is the party girl, but in reverse, she’s not in a partying mood. We’ve got two more weeks of this to go.

In the meantime, the Sun’s shift into Virgo signals the time to get back to work, focus on diet and health, and start thinking more critically about important issues rather than forming opinions based on something we read on Facebook or in the mainstream news. Continue reading →

The past week has been an intense emotional roller coaster, and I’ve definitely felt the fangs of retrograde Venus.

Last Wednesday, I was packed into a dining room with 100 people. It was one of 3,500 similar gatherings around the country, with an estimated 100,000 supporters of presidential candidate Bernie Sanders all tuned in to a live-streaming broadcast over the Internet of his message for those who want to help him get elected.

Before the broadcast began, there was a chance for participants to share their stories – why they’re supporting Bernie, their history of political activism, their hopes for a true revolution, and why this time it feels different from previous campaigns in which candidates made promises they had no intention of keeping Continue reading →

Is anyone feeling like Mercury is retrograde? He’s not, but the combination of Venus and Uranus turning retrograde together came with its own unique blend of frustrations, delays, and computer glitches.

I’m sorry to report that this week could be even worse in that regard, with Saturn stationing on Sunday (August 2; late Saturday night in Western time zones). Financial transactions are particularly vulnerable to snafus, so plan ahead by having cash on hand. Last weekend, when a flood of tourists arrived on little Vashon for our annual Strawberry Festival, the supermarket was running out of cash and had to limit the amount customers could get back on debit-card purchases. That’s just a small example of the kind of situation that Continue reading →

When I said last week’s forecast was going to be late, I had no idea it was going to be a whole week. I started writing it ten days ago and got totally overwhelmed, both by world events and the explosion of personal projects.

As you know from the news headlines, events have been moving very quickly. It’s almost as if time has been accelerating. That’s also true for many of us personally. Several readers have written tell me about unexpected good news and sudden breakthroughs.

For me, the pace has picked up to the point of mental overload, and my head is in a total muddle – Neptunian, but not in the way you’d expect. Last week, I was working on no less than six major Continue reading →

We’re still in the glow of the Venus-Jupiter conjunction, which is fortunate, because there is some heaviness this week, especially on the world stage.

The Sun’s opposition to Pluto on Monday and square to Uranus on Sunday (July 12) activates the Uranus-Pluto square, which is still very much with us, even though we’re on the downside of the curve – “downside” meaning that it’s just a matter of time before there’s nothing left to prop up an unsustainable global economic system stacked in favor of a privileged few at the expense of everyone else and the Earth’s ecosystem.